


Cullen's Anger and the Consequences

by Willowflower_Waterlily



Series: Inquisitor Anna [6]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2015-04-21
Packaged: 2018-03-25 03:28:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3794929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willowflower_Waterlily/pseuds/Willowflower_Waterlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cullen lets his anger get the best of him at the Temple of Dumat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Cullen watches nervously as Anna picks the lock on the gates to the Temple of Dumat. When they entered, it looked deserted, in ruin. A growl escaped Cullen's lips, and he feels anger building within. He tries to watch Anna fight, to keep an eye on her, to protect her as they battle the red Templars still in the keep, but he can't she moves so fast in battle she is like a blur. This makes him angrier, even though he knows she's doing what she's supposed to.

 

When they find Maddox, Cullen watches Anna kneel before the tranquil man and hold his hand. "I'm so sorry," she whispers to Maddox, "I pray you will be whole again, in death." A tear slips down her cheek.

"We need to look around to see if Maddox missed anything." Cullen's tone is harsher than he had intended, and Anna flashes him a confused look. After searching for about half an hour, they find a note from Samson to Cullen, and Maddox's tools. Cullen reads then rips up the note, and tries to calm down.

"I wish we could have gotten here sooner, for Maddox, but this will be a blow to Samson." Anna places her hand on Cullen's arm, and he pulls it back like her hand were on fire.

"Is it?" He snaps, "if we had gotten here sooner, we could have had him." Cullen glares at Anna, and the rest of the group falls silent at his outburst.

"Well, we had to wait for you." Anna glowers at Cullen. "If it were just my group, we would have been here nearly a week ago."

"I doubt it, had I not come along, you would have pushed it to the side to get to later. You don't know how to prioritize which missions to do and which to put off for later. I'm sure you would have done some menial task before ever thinking to do this." Cullen folds his arms and stares her down like she's a recruit. Dorian lets out a low whistle, and Anna glares back at Cullen.

"I have over ten years of experience in the field, I was trained by the Ferelden military to lead. If you have an issue with my leadership, then you shouldn't have made me Inquisitor."

"You're right, you shouldn't be Inquisitor. I'm sure whoever was your commanding officer heard your surname and decided to give you the easy path. Nobility always think that they're learning how to lead, but really they're just figure heads. Like you. And now you've wasted my time."

"Is that really what you think of me?" Anna asks, curling her hands into fists.

"Yes, it is exactly what I think of you and your so-called leadership capabilities. A waste of my time, and worthless." Cullen watches several emotions flash across her face before Anna turns and starts to walk away.

"Dorian, with me." Anna orders, "Bull, get Maddox's body. We'll give him a proper funeral." Dorian and Anna walk away from the rest of the group, Bull and Varric following shortly there after.

"You fucked up, Curly." Varric says before he leaves Cullen in the temple to brood. When Cullen gets back to camp, his head is finally starting to clear, and he wonders why he had gotten so anger. He doesn't remember everything he had said to Anna, but he's hoping he can apologize. When Cullen reaches the tent he and Anna had been sharing, he finds his bed roll and bag were left by the opening to the tent. And on top of the bed roll, the coin he had given Anna.


	2. Chapter 2

Cullen tries to go to Anna several after they get back to Skyhold, only to be glared at each time. "Anna..."

"You will stay away from me," Anna says in a low angry tone, "unless you have Inquisition business to speak to me about, Commander." Cullen flinches at her icy tone. "I didn't think so."

"But I..." Cullen starts, and watches Anna ride off before he can finish.

"I wouldn't bother." Bull walks up to him. "She won't listen to you. I don't blame her. What were you thinking?"

"I don't know." Cullen's shoulders slump and he stares at his feet. "I don't know where that came from, I don't believe a word that I said."

"Yeah, but she does. You need to remember what she had to deal with growing up, I wonder how many times her father told her she was worthless in order to control her. It must have been like hearing him again, but it was you, which makes it worse." Bull shakes his head at Cullen.

"What do I do?" Cullen asks, trying to stop the tears he feels.

"Give her some time, then try to apologize."

 

Cullen paces his office, trying to think of how he could apologize, to try to fix things. He holds the coin he had given her, his lucky coin. Anna is away from Skyhold, trying to close all the remaining rifts, with no estimate of when she'll be back. Cullen is afraid for her, that he pushed her to go into the field. He prays that she isn't taking any unnecessary risks.

 

The horn at the gate is sounded, and Cullen runs to the courtyard. He sees Anna and her group have just returned after having been away for two months. As the group makes their way to the stables, Cullen walks up to Anna. "I have nothing to say to you, Commander." Anna scowls at him, and as she dismounts Cullen sees that she had been injured.

"Anna, you've been injured." Cullen reaches for her bandaged wrist, but she yanks it out of his grasp.

"It's none of your concern."

"But I care..."

"No you fucking don't." Anna exclaims, cutting him off. "If you gave a damn about me at all, you would have never said a single fucking word of what you did in the damn temple. Worthless, that is what I am to you."

"But you're not." Cullen insists, trying to reach for Anna again. She shoves him, and balls her fists.

"What the fuck are you playing at?" Anna's voice is dangerously low as she growls at him. "You will not play games with me, Commander. Build me up, just to knock me down. You are Just. Like. My. Father." Cullen feels winded, as though he were punched in the gut. He stares at her in shock as she glares at him, daring him to continue. When he says nothing more, she leaves him sitting in the stables.


	3. Chapter 3

Cullen sits down at his desk, and starts leafing through the papers in front of him. Sighing, he wonders if Anna will ever talk to him again. The others talk to him, but he knows that they're angry with him too, and he doesn't blame him. Cullen is angry with himself as well. _I shouldn't have let it get that far,_ he thinks to himself, _I should have found a way to calm down_. Cullen relives the fight in his head more times than he'd care to admit, and it's like he's having an out of body experience, watching himself in his minds eye. "Stupid, Cullen, really fucking stupid." He mutters to himself.

"She's angry and hurt, the words still echo in her ears." Cole appears in front of Cullen's desk, surprising him. "Red thoughts caused by red crystals. You should have been more careful"

"That's enough Cole." Cullen exhales the breathe he hadn't realized he had been holding. "I want to make things right again, but I don't know how."

"Tell her the truth." Cole stares at him, with a look like it should have been obvious to Cullen. "She hurts because of the red words, part of her knows that you didn't mean them, but she's too used to the hurt those words give her. Repeats them over and over in her head when she thinks she's about to forgive you."

"How can I get her to listen to me?" Cullen asks the spirit. "She's barely spoken to me in two months."

"Ask Dorian to help you. He wants to help, even though he's still mad at you too." Cole vanishes as quickly as he had appeared. Cullen swiftly goes through the rest of his paper work and tries to think of how he can ask Dorian for help. When he's finished his work, Cullen paces, before he walks toward the keep. Solas isn't in his rotunda, so Cullen takes a moment to admire the paintings. Continuing on, Cullen reaches Dorian's usual spot in the library and finds he isn't there either. Having nothing else to do for the day, Cullen decides to wait for Dorian to return and reaches for a book.


End file.
